John Groce said it best.
The Bobcat coach watched his team get beaten in almost every category in a 60-51 loss to Akron yesterday at Rhodes Arena. Ohio has had trouble on the road all season long and last night was no different.
They just physically man-handled us
Groce said. We weren't able to run our offense. They imposed their will.
Groce has told anyone who would listen that his team needs to take care of the ball to win. Apparently, his players missed that message as they turned the ball over a season-high 24 times against Akron.
The Bobcats were able to force 18 turnovers of their own, but the Zips outscored them 20-15 off those turnovers.
Even senior point guard *Michael Allen, who came into the game as the Mid-American Conference leader in assists, turned the ball over four times to just one assist.
Mike (Allen) would be the first one to tell you it's unacceptable Groce said. It's so difficult to win when you throw the ball to the other team.
But the turnovers were just part of the problem for the Bobcats.
Ohio came in as the best 3-point shooting team in the conference, but did not make one 3-pointer in 14 tries.
Part of that had to do with Akron's staunch defense from beyond the arc. They lead the conference in 3-point defense.
We didn't get a ton of open looks Groce said. We got a handful
but we didn't make them tonight.
The Bobcats were also outrebounded, especially on the offensive glass.
Jerome Tillman had a game-high 17 points and eight rebounds, but no one else on the team had more than four boards.
Akron had 15 offensive rebounds to Ohio's seven. The Bobcats were outrebounded 35 to 28 in the game.
They were so physical inside
Groce said. I was very disappointed to see we had zero and they had 10 (offensive rebounds in the first half).
I thought they were very scrappy and they played with great energy.
Despite all of those factors working against them
the Bobcats were still in it with less than eight minutes to play.
With 7:58 left in the game
Ohio trailed Akron by just four at 42-38.
But Nate Linhart
who finished with a team-high 15 points
scored four points on the Zips' 6-0 run that followed.
The Bobcats would get no closer than six points the rest of the way as they fell to just 2-12 on the road. The loss cements Ohio into last place in the MAC East Division heading into the MAC Tournament.
Even if Ohio defeats Bowling Green tomorrow at 2 p.m.
it will not be able to finish any higher than the No. 7 seed in the tournament.,",2,Sports,Matt O'Donnell,27427a.jpg,Jerome Tillman puts up the last shot of the game from half court
missing off the backboard
